How to Structure a Story

Easy Way to Write subscribers often ask me if there's a structure they can use for stories that works pretty much every time.

Yes,
would be my answer. I suggest a few in my genre writing courses - but
there's always room for flexibility and a degree of originality.

Plus, you often need to come up with something yourself before you have any real attachment to it.

Having said that, here's the process I often use for
constructing a story.

Generally I'll come up with an
idea or something interesting will occur to me - usually a character in an interesting situation
against a backdrop (a setting.)

The character and the backdrop are
usually the easy bit - a person in a place or at a
particular moment in time.

It's the interesting situation
that's usually the inspired bit - and the reason for wanting
to tell the story.

Often there's not enough in the
initial idea to fill out a whole story, so where do I go from
there?

Well, I know that the character most
likely has an issue that needs resolving - and will face
a series of obstacles to that resolution.

But what will
the obstacles be?

Next I brainstorm - and try to think of
scenarios that either help or hinder the main character's
journey through the story.

I like to come up with other
characters that will make the story more interesting - in
that they have agendas at
odds with the main character.

This makes the hero's quest more difficult and therefore the resolution hopefully more satisfying.

Plotting should always be character
driven.

I never plot in a vacuum or try to force a plot
onto a character - that way madness lies - and stories
that won't work.

Besides, letting your characters plot
your stories is so much easier.

You just need to ask,
"What would they do now?" and make note of the
answer.

And then, "What now?" and keep going
until the 'end' of the story.

Finally, when I'm convinced I've
thought of all the angles on the story - and rejected the
ones that don't seem to further the story or act as
diversions from the main point - I'm ready to begin
writing.

Not everyone works this way.

Indeed, I
don't work this way on all of my stories - just the ones
that need expanding.

But at some point before the actual
writing, I believe the structure of the story should be in place -
even if only in its vaguest form.

When it comes to structure I write down
headlines that I will later expand into paragraphs or
whole sections.

The headlines are easy to manage because
if I have say 20 or 25, I can juggle them (cutting and
pasting on a Word doc) until I have them in the most
pleasing and logical order: the order that makes sense of, and
enhances the main story idea.

The hardest part is resolving all - or at
least most - of the character's agendas in the last part
of the story.

Now, many writers choose to resolve
everything after the climax but this is where I differ I
think.

Because what I like to do is make the climax of
the story the very reason why the character's
agendas are resolved.

It's really worthwhile brainstorming a
story to make sure this happens.

It gives a 'point' to
the story in a way that simply relating words and clunky messages disguised as plot cannot.

To me this makes the climax not only
exciting and meaningful in the context of the characters
- but also more satisfying to a reader.

It also means I
don't have to waste words after the climax 'winding down'
and tying up all those loose threads.

I hope this (very) little explanation of
how I sometimes structure stories helps you in your own work.